


Long Ago

by LuciaWilt



Series: Unit [ATEM] [1]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Androids, Body Horror, Family Issues, Kaiba needs help, M/M, Mental Anguish, Mental Instability, Mild Sexual Content, Mildly Dubious Consent, Mokuba is trying, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-16
Updated: 2019-02-16
Packaged: 2019-10-29 10:51:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17806640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LuciaWilt/pseuds/LuciaWilt
Summary: Kaiba felt sick to his stomach half the time. It was horrid, presumably a left over after effect from traveling to the afterlife where Atem had resided. Half the time he was sick and the other half so giddy his body could have floated away into the ethos if he were not indoors.Kaiba is very sick and he knows it but is so damn prideful he will not ask for help.





	Long Ago

**Author's Note:**

> wow it's a prideshipping idea that gets me out of my writing block. why thank you kaiba you crazy mother fucker. so this takes place a couple of years after canon; Kaiba is about 26 and Mokuba is 20.
> 
> music inspiration is And Then I Woke Up by Owsey

Kaiba felt sick to his stomach half the time. It was horrid, presumably a left over after effect from traveling to the afterlife where Atem had resided. Half the time he was sick and the other half so giddy his body could have floated away into the ethos if he were not indoors. It was a strange time in his life and a part of him hated it severely, but another part of him knew what he needed to do. That’s why he threw himself into his work. He already built and perfect his new duel disk system a few years back. That had been during the time he thought Yugi could bring Atem back through the puzzle. But upon finding out that was impossible, he moved to the next best thing after returning to the present. 

Android technology was still pretty much in its infancy but Kaiba never let something like that stop him in the past. If he did, he would not be where he was today. So for weeks upon weeks upon weeks he locked himself away in his lab, working tirelessly on how to fuse an AI and a physical copy of an android. It was quite a bit more difficult than he had hoped. While he already had bits and pieces of AI from the duel disk system he created all those years ago, it was not complete enough to do the transfer into a physical bioelectric body. 

Either way, he pushed right on through and finally finished that first stage. Once he was done with that, he started into the work of the actual physical copy. That would be far easier; especially forming the appearance to match the Pharaoh. Kaiba would never in his life forget what Atem looked like. Perhaps you could call it selfish, perhaps not, either way he went right into work on the head first. Kaiba carved each and every finite detail with such care and precision; just the bridge of the nose and the curve of Atem’s lips took him well over a week. 

But before long, Kaiba had finished the androids facial features, the cold and metal head put up on a pedestal that made it easier for him to work. It was striking, how much it looked like the real thing. If it were not for the wires and metal hanging out from the base of its neck, it would have been upsetting to look at; the appearance of a beheaded Atem sitting before him. However Kaiba had a stronger stomach than that as he leaned back. The hair was just as he remembered from his trip to the other realm; wild and untamed, slight curls here and there that framed Atem’s face. His cheeks had that high regal air about them and his nose and lips were perfect. 

Kaiba had no idea what he was doing even as he leaned in. His hands still covered in bits and smudges of oil cupped either side of Atem’s face as he pressed his lips to the ones sitting in front of him. He was so cold, the android that is. It was completely unresponsive so Kaiba finally pulled away and nothing changed. The hair was still unruly and the expression still the same. He hummed in the back of his throat, finally rolling back in his chair before standing and heading to collect different parts for the next phase; the body. 

He was unsurprised at the time it took for the rest of the android. While he put just as much thought and consideration in to Atem’s metal body, it did not take nearly as long as the head. Perhaps it was because Atem’s face was what Kaiba would be looking at the most once he was finished. Either way, the body was done before long which only left Kaiba to order the clothing.

That’s where he knew he would run into a problem. Even though Kaiba was a genius engineer, he was surprisingly piss poor at drawing anything aside from electronics and buildings. Anything to do with a human and he was completely at a loss. And it was not as though he could use his duel disk system to get an exact replica from his memories. Well he could, but he was not about to leave the actual “building” of the garments to a machine. Atem deserved better than something so detached and cold. So this was where he ran into the fact he had to bring in another living breathing human at this stage in the game. 

For the first time in what felt like weeks; though it was surely only days, he exited his lab and headed to his main office, making sure to triple lock the door behind him. Somewhere in his subconscious he was terrified of someone taking Atem away from him again, though he would never admit that aloud. 

Once he was in the boundaries of his office, he walked over and picked up his phone, unlocking it with a swipe of his finger and staring at the contact list that sat before him. He knew he should have just brought the damn thing with him into the lab that morning. But of course his mind said he would not need it, thinking the previous step in his creation would have taken a bit longer. 

One option Kaiba had was to call his own seamstress. She did all of his tuxes, all of his jackets, everything. She was the best in the business and surely would do well for Atem as well. That seemed like a good idea, yet his eyes flickered down and spotted another frequently called number. 

Mokuba’s name flashed like a beacon in front of him. “Shit.” He muttered under his breath. It was not as though Kaiba had been putting off his actual job of CEO. If anything he was more organized and focused than he had ever been in the past. It was just that when he was not doing his job, he was spending all of his time in the lab. He knew Mokuba was getting worried; it was not as though his little brother was all that “little” any longer. Mokuba quite clearly hit his growth spurt once he turned 16 a few years ago. Now he was almost as tall as Kaiba. And at 20 years old, Mokuba had started to blossom even more. He had actually become a fashion designer and was doing brilliantly for himself. 

Kaiba grunted, bringing the phone up to rest against his forehead. During this entire process, Kaiba and Mokuba seemed to have been growing further and further apart. It was his fault, Kaiba knew that. It was his fault since he started this entire mess. He knew he was acting erratic, wild and untamed. He knew he was being completely insane as he built a damn android replica of Atem; but he could not stop himself. 

Was he really thinking of asking Mokuba to help, as though they would be working on just a simple project together and would not be near resurrecting a dead Egyptian pharaoh Kaiba found himself falling in love with? Gods above. The fact it only rang once before the phone was answered twisted Kaiba’s gut into knots of guilt. He really had been shutting everyone out. “Seto! I’m so glad you called.” Mokuba’s excited voice came through from the other side of the line. Kaiba knew his brother was at home; he had a security feed of his mansion after all. 

Mokuba’s excited tone made Kaiba want to curl up and just hide in his lab again. It would be easy, simple. Just him and Atem. Maybe he could just live the rest of his life in there. It would not bother him all that much if Atem was naked all the time. He was only clothing him to take Atem out of the building after all. “Mokuba.” Just that single word had the other end of the line going silent and Kaiba had to bite his tongue, the guilt spinning through him again. “I need your help on something.” 

“Really? I can get down there in no time. Just give me like half an hour.”

“No. No you don’t need to come in.” Again Mokuba was silent and Kaiba felt hideous. “I am going to send you sizing and a template for a design I need you to complete. I will pay you of course.” But it was Mokuba’s time to steal Kaiba’s breath. 

“Seto,” He started out quietly. “You know you don’t have to pay me when I make things for you; I’m just happy you are talking to me. I’m more than happy to work with you on something.” Mokuba did not ask about the sizing as Kaiba pulled his laptop out and sent the pictures and sizes to Mokuba’s email address. Kaiba had decided on using his duel disk system to simply think up the clothing and not Atem wearing it. Of course Mokuba would know exactly who wore those garments once he looked at them, but it was slightly less embarrassing then sending him pictures of Atem. 

“You should have gotten them.” 

He heard Mokuba hum happily on the other end while moving through his room, heading to his computer that was presumably resting on his desk. There was more little noises until the other end went silent and Kaiba knew the game was up. “Seto….this is…” Mokuba was breathless as he spoke and Kaiba wanted to just twist the knife in his own gut even further. Hell, dying would send him to the after life immediately. That way he could be with Atem and would not have to worry about upsetting the people in this life. 

“Please…Mokuba.” Kaiba was too tired to argue and he was just hoping he could get that message across. He just wanted to hold Atem in his arms once again. 

The other side of the line was silent for a few more moments before Mokuba let out an exhausted sigh of his own. “Ok. I’ll get to work on this.” It was obvious Mokuba was upset. He knew what Kaiba had been working on while he was in his lab but never commented on it, keeping Kaiba’s privacy as well as he always did. Perhaps this was just finally seeing it in the flesh, it was something that he could not deny now. “Is there anything else you would like for…him?”

“Anything you think he would look good in.” Kaiba responded, not having nearly as much trouble referring to the android as a “he” instead of an “it”. Maybe it is because he had spent so much time on Atem. 

Mokuba again was quiet. “Ok Seto.” And that was the end of the conversation. Since everyone was already gone for the day, Kaiba did not feel quite as embarrassed as he went at a near dead sprint back to his lab; nearly running face first into the steel door. His hands were shaking as he unlocked it with the keypad on the side and rushed in. Atem was just where he left him, eyes closed like he was just sleeping.

In a way, that’s what Atem was doing. He was sleeping, resting quietly until Kaiba could deliver the “kiss” that would awaken him. 

A kiss…. Kaiba felt a familiar warmth in his stomach. He was so damn close…so damn close he could reach out and touch him. 

Kaiba did just that. 

Leaning over the table that Atem was resting on, Kaiba pushed his lips against Atem’s gently. Even if Atem was just an empty shell at this point, Kaiba treated him like fine china, brushing those curly unruly hairs out of his face as he planted one kiss after another against Atem’s lips. He felt like a man starved of food, starved of water, air itself had been taken from him. Kaiba could not stop as he peppered kiss after kiss onto Atem’s lips. At this point in the build, Atem’s biomechanical skin could warm under Kaiba’s fingers. His lips opened and moved, they were soft as rose petals and Kaiba felt like he could get addicted. The body was limp under his hands as he kissed and sucked at Atem’s neck, making his way down to his chest before stopping and pulling away. 

Aside from moving a bit from Kaiba’s prodding, Atem looked no different. Kaiba on the other hand… his face was red and he felt his breath coming out of him like he just ran a mile and a half. It took him less than a second to grab one of Atem’s fine hands, soft and elegant. In Kaiba’s they looked near feminine. Not that he cared. Kaiba rested one of his elbows against the metal on one side of Atem’s head. He brought Atem’s hand into his pants and simply pressed a deep and straining kiss to Atem’s lips as he started to masturbate, Atem’s hand wrapped around his cock underneath his own. 

Kaiba knew he would not last long at all. He had been waiting for this for so long; and when he came he made sure to do so out of the way of Atem’s resting body.

Kaiba’s blue eyes trailed over Atem’s sleeping face. Ha, sleeping, he mused to himself. Now he was believing his own lies. Never the less, Kaiba tucked himself back into his pants and sat down on his chair. It was not as though he would be going anywhere that night; not when Atem was here. 

He brushed some of the blonde and black hair away from Atem’s face. “Soon. Soon you will be with me again.” 

And Kaiba always kept his promises. 

**Author's Note:**

> I honestly was not sure if I should have tagged it dubious consent or not since Atem at that point is just an empty vessel. However I decided better safe than sorry.


End file.
